Local government: Williamson Act.

Existing law, the Williamson Act, authorizes a city or county to enter into contracts with owners of land devoted to agricultural use, whereby the owners agree to continue using the property for that purpose, and the city or county agrees to value the land accordingly for purposes of property taxation. Existing law sets forth procedures for reimbursing cities and counties for property tax revenues not received as a result of these contracts. Existing law sets forth the term of these contracts at 10 or 20 years, except that until January 1, 2016, a county may, in any fiscal year in which payments authorized for reimbursement to a county for lost revenue are less than 12 of the participating county's actual foregone general fund property tax revenue, revise the term for newly renewed and new contracts to either 9 or 18 years. Existing law provides for an addition to the assessed value of properties subject to contracts with a reduced term. This bill would delete the January 1, 2016, date and thereby authorize a county to utilize the process for revising or entering into contracts so as to specify 9-year or 18-year terms indefinitely. The bill would additionally authorize a county to utilize that process for revising or entering into contracts for land subject to a farmland security zone contract. The bill would also make conforming changes.